Just This Once
by momoxtoshiro
Summary: You really do like to fall don't you?" he murmured with a smirk. "Good thing there's more than one type of falling." What do Ikuto's mischevious words mean? And who's the one who always catches Amu when she falls? "Cats should sleep on the floor..."


**My first attempt at an Amuto fic! I hope it's good, so depending on my feedback, we'll see if I'll keep writing for this fandom or not. Fluff warning :D**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Shugo Chara D:**

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Just This Once

Amu sighed as she sat in her room, her bed feeling warm and comfortable against the cool, Autumn wind outside her windows.

The room was unusually silent, since Ran, Miki and Su had all been called away by Kiseki for some strange meeting of theirs. It was the first time in a while that it had been so quiet, and Amu found it weird that she could actually here herself think for once. Yet she was constantly talking to the air around her, as a force of habit, only to cut off mid-sentence once she realized she was alone.

"I think I'll take a shower." The pink-haired girl announced to no one in particular, and then remembered her Gaurdian Characters were absent and mentally smacked herself. _Geez! This is the 6__th__ time tonight! If people don't_ already _think that I'm schizophrenic, they sure will in the future if I keep this up! I mean at least most of the time I actually _am _talking to someone, but now…_She shook her head as she realized that she was mentally babbling to herself.

Closing the textbook she had been finishing up her homework in, Amu grabbed her pale yellow pajama shirt and pants and headed for the bathroom.

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"Uhh…" Amu moaned and let her head collide with the desk.

Her shower had been so wonderfully warm and relaxing that she had almost fallen asleep. But the second the hissing sound of hot water had ceased to grace her ears, she had been nearly deafened when her little sister had began 'singing' Utau's famous "Heartful Song". But it was so awful, as usual, and Amu would have liked to rake her nails deeply across a chalkboard rather than suffer this torture. Plus, her mother and father were swooning madly, calling out in annoying voices that she could hear from her room even though they were downstairs. "One day, Ami's going to be a great singer." Amu mumbled. "But not right _now_….or even in a few years…"

Sitting up straight after she had mostly recovered, Amu stood and made sure that her door was locked, lest her younger sister burst into her room with her karaoke box in the middle of the night again. Still able to hear the voice of her sister through the walls, Amu sought refuge on her small balcony. Sliding the door open, she stepped out onto the cool ground and leaned over the edge a bit, staring up at the night sky.

The moon was exceedingly bright tonight, sliced into the shape of a cat's claw to cast dancing shadows down onto the world below. "Geez, what are they even _doing_ anyway?" She wondered out loud, stealing a glance over her shoulder at the clock in her room. It was 8PM, but still, that was pretty late and she hoped that her Guardians would be back soon from whatever they were doing. _Oh yeah, they'll probably stay in that little dollhouse if it gets too late...S_he recalled.

The cool wind made her wet hair stick against the back of her neck and sent a shiver down her spine but she did not head back in yet. It was far too nice out.

Closing her eyes, Amu breathed in deeply, letting the cold air fill her lungs, cleansing her body and giving her a refreshed feeling. With her eyes closed, her mind began playing out the fantasies of her hidden heart, dreaming of being held in Tadase's arms like a princess. _Oh where is my prince? _She cried out silently. _Or…I guess I should say King, rather. _She corrected.

Standing on her balcony made her feel even more like a princess and she imagine standing there in a white, frilly dress, hand extended gingerly towards a handsome boy, kneeling on one knee on the ground below. But surprisingly, she could not quite tell who the boy was. _It's Tadase-kun, of course! _She told herself. Her eyes still shut in her fantasy, she inhaled deeply again, and quietly whispered, "Wherefor art thou, Romeo?"

"You rang?" a deep, male voice sounded millimeters away from her ear.

Amu's golden eyes flew open so fast that she almost fell over. She found herself staring into intent, cobalt irises, with long bangs, and cat ears to match.

"I-IKUTO?!" the girl choked on the exhale and took a step back before she began coughing wildly.

"Hey, hey. Take it easy." The boy said smoothly, a grin on his face. "Don't die." He advised. She finished her coughing spasm with a gasp before replying.

"Yeah, thanks, I'll try not to." She spat. After straightening up and somewhat regain her composure, she glared up at him. "What do you want?"

"Does it matter?" he asked, stepping closer to her.

"Y-Yes it does. This _is _my room, for your information." She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. She then noticed that Ikuto was completely alone. "Eh? Where's Yoru?" she asked, totally forgetting her prior question of what the cat-tailed teen was doing there.

"He's off in some alley somewhere with all his cat friends." He shrugged. "Yours are gone too." He observed.

"Yeah, they're out having some meeting or something." She rolled her eyes. "Sometimes I wonder just what those guys-HEY, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" she yelled, realizing that Ikuto had completely ignored her and slipped through her balcony's door and into her room.

Shutting the door behind her, Amu dashed into her room after him. But her bare feet slipped on the floor and she stumbled, ungracefully backward. Bracing herself for the collision with the floor she squeezed her eyes shut, but instead, felt a hand around her waist. Blinking her eyes open slowly, Amu found herself staring up into the same cobalt irises.

"Wow. You really _do _like to fall, huh?" he murmured with a smirk. Amu blushed, realizing that he was right, and that just about every time she fell, he was there to catch her in some way. "Well," the boy went on, supporting her until she found her balance again. "It's a good thing there's more that one _type_ of falling." He added.

"Eh? More than one type? What do you mean?" she asked, trying to fight away her blush as he let go of her waist.

"Well…" Ikuto mused, thinking he would mess with her a bit, slithering his tail around her arm. "There's _this _type of falling…" In one, swift movement, he grabbed her arm and pulled her sideways as she lost her balance once more, squeaking in surprise. But before she could even process what was happening, he had his other arm around her waist again and held her as though she had been dancing. Her heart pounding, Amu remained frozen in his arms as she gazed up at him. Smirking, he yanked her back up to her feet once more.

"And, there's another type of falling…"

Suddenly, his face was mere inches from her own and Amu caught her breath in flustered shock. "Like, the 'in love' kind of falling." He clarified with that almost-seductive voice of his.

Bashfully, Amu half realized that she was correct, yet again, for not only did she often fall where Ikuto caught her, but she had also fallen for a minimum of 5 boys. She recalled that her heart had been made to flutter around, not only Tadase, Ikuto and Kukai, but also the tiniest bit at Kairi, and even Nagihiko. _Ohhh, I'm such a terrible person! I'm so unfaithful to my prince!_ She screamed inwardly.

Again, the image of a boy entered her mind, but she saw that he was actually quite tall, this time…

"Hey." Ikuto flicked her sharply in the forehead.

"Ow! What was _that _for, you jerk?" she cried, rubbing her injury.

"You were spacing out." He informed her.

"Wh-Whatever." She puffed, once more crossing her arms and taking a small step away from him. "Just get out. My parents will come barging in any second now with my luck…" she added in a mumble.

"No they won't. Your door's locked." He pointed out.

_Crap! He noticed!_ Amu fervently searched her thoughts for another reason for him to leave but when she turned around, she found him lounging on her bed.

"H-HEY!!" she hollered. "Get off my bed you creepy cat!"

"Oh come on. Have some compassion will you?" he closed his eyes, folding his arms behind his head. "I've been wandering around all day and I'm too tired to go any farther today." Amu stuttered, flailing to find syllables that would form comprehendible sentences but to no avail. "Besides," Ikuto went on. "It's windy outside, plus it's late." With every word out of his mouth, Amu was given less and less of a chance to refuse him.

"B-But you're a cat! You should be able to see in the dark…" She pouted, giving it one last try and praying that he would just leave.

"True…" He agreed with her for once and Amu looked up with sparkling eyes and a hopeful smile. "But I'm still not moving." He added, with that sly, cat-like smirk on his face.

"B-But-but-but…" she tried desperately to persuade him otherwise.

"Just give it up." He offered. "You've let me stay here before, so why is now any different?"

Amu turned her back on him in an attempt to hide her blush.

"W-Well that was different. You were hurt that time and-"

Again, Ikuto obviously had only paid attention to half of her sentence before he got bored. So he decided to sneak up behind her, as silently as a real cat would until he was inches away.

So presently, Amu cut off mid-sentence with a startled cry as she felt teeth lightly nipping her ear. She jumped and scrambled to the opposite side of the room, huddling against the wall, grasping her ear and panting crazily.

"W-W-What-?!"

"Sorry. I got bored and couldn't resist." He answered before she could even ask.

The girl was still stammering for words as she watched the boy saunter over to her. Flicking his tail he leaned down and swept her up into his arms and carried her bridal style across the room.

Amu recalled the image of herself and Tadase she had imagined before, only now she was in the arms of a different man…

Ikuto stopped near her bed and Amu braced herself, waiting for him to just drop her onto the floor or something along those lines. But instead, he let her down onto the floor gently, and she was almost taken aback by his chivalrous methods.

"So you're _really _going to kick me out?" he asked in a sigh. Amu turned to face him, her mouth wide open in the beginnings of a 'Yes, now get out!' but the words died in her throat when she saw him. His eyes were on the floor, tail drooping, ears angled slightly back; in short, a beautifully miserable sight.

Having lost her words, the girl just let herself speak without fully approving of the words that escaped her mouth.

"Fine. But you're sleeping on the floor." She complied, a small hint of annoyance in her tone. Ikuto turned back to her, his ears pricked once again, his eyes sparkling and full of mischief.

"If you say so. You're so fun to mess with." Smirking, he snaked his tail under her chin, causing her heart to flutter, before passing her and sitting down on her pink bed. Amu blinked as the realization that she had been utterly tricked came over her, still faintly feeling the sensation of his fur on her skin. Then she shook her head and whipped around to face him.

"Hey! I said-"

"You said that I'll be _sleeping_ on the floor." He cut in. "I'm not sleeping yet, am I?"

"Not yet, but I could knock you unconscious if you want…" she growled.

"Isn't it time for little kids to be in bed?" He asked, uninterested in her annoyance.

"Oh, shut up!" she huffed, a little too loudly. She quickly clamped her hands over her mouth when she realized that her parents probably would have heard her if her little sister had not still been attempting to sing the song of her unwanted visitor's sister. Ikuto gave her a smug look that told her he could hop out the window and leave her parents believing she had been speaking to no one if they every came up. Amu let her hands fall to her sides again, clenched her fists and let out a long, shaky breath.

A sudden wave of dizziness overcame her and she swayed where she stood. She stole a glance at Ikuto, who was now seated on the floor at the base of her bed, watching her closely. She felt almost like a helpless animal, trapped in its own home with a predator that was just waiting for her to fall asleep so he could pounce.

Another sigh, and the girl had turned off the lights in her room. She left her balcony's door open a bit in case her Guardians made their way back that night, or if, hopefully, her unwanted cat-boy decided to leave. But looking down into his conceited eyes, she assumed that was not happening tonight. She raised her chin with a 'hmph!' and flopped down onto her bed, not even bothering to crawl under the blankets. Fatigue crept over her body and she rolled onto her side, closing her eyes slowly, almost forgetting about the black cat at her feet.

Amu felt as though she would lose consciousness any second now, until she felt two, piercing eyes staring down at her. Blinking her eyes back open again, she was about to lift her head to glare at Ikuto and demand just what it was he wanted when she froze, feeling a warm hand running through her hair.

"You know," he said quietly, his deep voice hiding ambiguous emotions. "You'll catch a cold if you sleep when you're hair isn't properly dried."

"I get enough of that from Ran and Su, thanks." She managed to scoff, while still frozen on her side, facing away from him as he continued his surprisingly gentle caresses. Feeling the breeze of the wind slipping through her window against her dampened hair, Amu held back a shiver.

Ikuto continued his motions, tenderly brushing his fingers over her hair and halfway down her back, gazing down at her. Amu felt extremely self-conscious now, and wondered why she had not yet kicked him out the door. Perhaps she was just too exhausted, or perhaps…she was enjoying it?

_No! No way! Never!_ She wailed in her mind. _But…it feels so nice…caring…_

The pink-haired Guardian finally decided to give in to her tired body. She let out a shaky breath and closed her eyes, allowing her tense shoulders to go limp. She was almost fully asleep when she felt his fingers slide down the back of her neck and made her shiver.

"You're cold." Ikuto murmured flatly.

Amu blinked her eyes open, slightly confused, and lifted her head. But before she could steal a glance at him, she felt his arm around her and the next thing she knew, he had rolled her over to face him where he lay, occupying the other side of her bed. Ikuto wrapped his arms around her and Amu forgot how to breathe.

"I…Ikuto…" she whispered, wriggling a bit against his embrace, but she quickly gave up. _It's so warm…_

"Just go to sleep, Amu." Her heart began pounding when he said her name and she knew Ikuto could feel it, if not _hear _it. It was different from when Tadase or anyone else said her name. Ikuto made it flow smoothly and somehow made it almost one syllable. She smiled a bit. Hesitantly, she relaxed against him and let her breath come in easily once more.

"Cats should sleep on the floor…" she murmured, closing her eyes and fading fast.

"Come on." She could hear the smirk in his tone. "Just this once?" she felt him rest his tail across her waist, almost protectively.

Suddenly, the image of her unknown prince from before was very clear to her.

She reached up slowly and scratched behind his ear for a moment before curling back up into his arms.

She knew that if either of them could purr, they would be right then.

"Fine." She breathed, nestling closer to him. "Just This Once…"

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**A/N: Well? Whatcha think? Was it cute? Was it rushed? Were there mistakes?? Please tell me so I can fix it! Hope you liked it!!**

**Please review!!**


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